The dice is rolled
by LordSP
Summary: Narrates a parallel story to the modern warfare story line. Lets say its the 0.5 to 2.5 Modern Warfare. This story explains many of the gaps in the original story line. Give it a try. The known characters will show up soon enought. Reviewwww
1. Where the hell am I?

**HI GUYS**

**This is my first story, which I want to share with you since my friend (way to long to be named... now) showed me this place. I also uploaded (hopefully it worked) some Twilight Fan Fics... but I must say, Modern Warfare is more of my thing.**

**I hope you guys can understand my English :(, I know it isn´t that good. I´ve never shown my Fan Fiction before and I think I have a lot to learn, so if u guys think there is something wrong or something could be better, just say it.**

**If u guys like it, I will post the second Chapter and so on. If nobody likes it (hopefully not the case) well, no more chapters.**

**My objective is, that you enjoy reading this story as much as you enjoyed playing the game...**

**So now: the story.**

**Chapter I: Where the hell am I?**

It was so dark. I couldn´t hear a thing. Everything was blurry and there was only one thing I could think of... where the hell am I? Suddenly I started seeing shapes. There were these wood planks and stripped red-white cloth over me. Then, I could see further, it was the sky. It was a sunny day and the clouds were moving fast. It reminded me of my Senior Trip to Catalonia, that night after hooking up with the Danish girls… and ending up with our asses kicked by their boyfriends, waking up the next morning under a bench just next to the beach. I just knew it wasn't something alike. I wouldn't laugh with my buddies about this. And then I heard the sound. That scream in the ears all of us had to go through sometime. It's like the end of the handicap time, the whistle of the Referee before the 2nd half. The gunshot before the Triathlon. For our kind it meant back to Duty… to the Battlefield.

"Yo dude, hurry. We are going, now!" Rick said. He helped me with the debris of the market stall I'd landed at… that was laying all over me, and then back on my feet. My SCAR's ACOG didn't make it through the flight. I couldn´t ever aim down that broken scope, but I still needed something to fight back. My mate was keen on only using Iron Sights… "it´s "Just because"" he always said (And even made this "finger" thing). I must say... at the moment I was a bit jealous.  
I couldn't care less about my orders (Which I had by then already forgotten). Everything was gone, my training, my manners… it was like the_Übermensch _was coming out of me. _Hauptsache_, I had to leave safe and sound. Rick and I were on our way to what was left of our HUMVEE, but before we could do anything, OpFor soldiers shot another RPG round in our way… making our vehicle burn in flames. We fell to the ground, but I could quickly regain balance. I grabbed Rick, who laid flat on the ground and started running away from the fire. I heard the supply crates locks unlocking, and the ammo cooking off. It would have been stupid to go back… everything we had left in the HUMVEE didn't exist anymore. I just run towards the city, in direction of a long alley, where we would get our payback ambush. It would I had lost my googles in the explosion. They could be melting with the rest of our stuff, or maybe they just fell to the ground, but I started caring less about sand getting in my eyes, and more about the enemy who had started to follow us.

"They are following us!" I yelled, but trying to hide my nervousness.

"Just shut up and run dude!" Rick replied, still hanging in my back.

Somehow Rick got tired of being pulled, so he requested me to let him run by himself (Of course I didn't argue). Almost instantaneously we were again on the way. I didn't quite know where we were going, or what we were supposed to do, but I was so scared at the time… the idea of getting killed (Or worse, becoming a POW) had been so surreal until that point. Nothing can really prepare you for that. Fighting for your life. Philosophy classes came to my mind… maybe Hobbes was right, maybe it was really a free-for-all deathmatch.

"Im out of audio Rick… can you contact my bro?". I requested, cause my earplug wasn't transmitting anymore.

Rick tried contacting my brother Sky over the radio; no answer. He tried HQ, no answer. We were on our on for this. Sky was the first to get out of the HUMVEE when we got ambushed, so I was sure he made it out alive. Although Rick was having a hard time contacting him over audio, I knew he was ok. It is one of those feelings twins are said to have. I don't know about all of us... But we do have that special bond.

We saw some shadows ahead… so we suddenly made a left turn, and went up a staircase. I pulled out my pistol and aimed downstairs... Covering Rick as he got in position behind me.  
I could hear them scream; yell at each other trying to find us. Still they couldn't. We hid there, and waited between crates, until our pursuers gave up the search.

Rick tried repairing his radio, while I tried locating our position through GPS. We had walked our way towards the city… and were a kilometer away from where the remains of our Vehicle were. Rick wasn't going anywhere with his radio, so I checked my earplug, to find the reason it was not working. The cable was cut. I tried sticking both ends together, and I actually got some radio shower and could listen a voice in the background.

"Hey Rick, I need your headphones, my radio is working but my earplug is screwed". I whispered. He didn't hesitate, pulled the plug out and throw them over to me. I put my faulty earplug in my knee pocket and tried luck with Rick´s. It worked, it actually worked. I heard "The Boss" from CP.

"…o Unit, here is CP. What's your status? Over!" He yelled. They've been probably trying to reach us.

"Here Echo Unit, over" I said… trying not to be loud enough to blew our cover.

"What's your status son, over?" He said now calmly.

"We got ambushed about an hour ago. It's only "Riot" (Rick´s codename) and me. Sky is gone MIA. We just got audio back online. Over". I felt relieved that now, they at least knew we were still alive.

"Ok son, give me your coordinates and I'll get you out of there."

I passed the coordinates over, and I was told to hold on for further orders.

"Boss, what is going to happen with my brother?" I started to care more about Sky, I hoped we had met already.

"It's up to you Soldier. About 3 kilometers directly south from your position is the nearest Rendesvouz Point. I wouldn't hesitate going there. If we hear from your brother, we'll let you know".

Rick took his compass out of his pocket and looked for the south. The staircase we had gone up, went directly south, so we started moving that way. It was a dead end. About 10 meters in that direction, there was a fountain, making a roundabout to three houses. He thought the best thing to do, was going down the stairs and then trying to make a you turn. We moved towards the staircase, and then we spotted a little girl holding a bowl with fresh fruits… red apples to be precise. She started screaming, dropped the the bowl and run down the staircase. The bowl and the apples fell down the stair. The metal bowl bounced twice, before reaching the alley at the end of the staircase. It spun for about 5 seconds, making that characteristic sound.

We heard the militia again. They knew our position now… probably everybody knew that by now. I got to thank that girl if I ever see her again. Their voices became louder and louder, and then, at that point we could see their shadows. They were coming from the left.

"Back to cover Rick!" I said. Trying not to make more unnecessary noise… and get more unnecessary attention. Hopefully they will end up thinking the girl just saw an animal and run.

They started walking slowly, step by step... Rick pulled out his "Dad´s mirror" (Rick´s dad was a dentist, despite of his terrible orthodontics)  
"I see movement ahead down the stairs, 2 tangos moving to the east" he whispered. They didn't spot us, they both just walked by.

"Payback time bitches!" Rick said, getting out of cover and about to go down the stairs and ambush them. I went to get him and grabbed his shoulder.

A 3rd Soldier showed up. He made eye contact with Rick. He was about to start firing at us, when a grenade dropped by his feet.

"Watch out!" Rick yelled. But it was too late... We didn't have time to get under cover. We weren´t in the grenade's effective radius… but it was still close enough for shnarpel to damage our clothes and rip some skin, or even muscle tissue. We saw the _light_, twice.

The loud bang and the bright flash… proved us wrong. I was quite relieved my story wouldn't end in this crappy town in the middle of _Arsch der Welt_, but I knew I´d need some painkillers and Tinnitus pills to sleep that night. The bang was actually really loud. I could hear Rick swear in every language. He is kind of delicate about flashbangs, he just doesn´t like them. For me it wasn't that bad. Just the feeling of not dying there, made me kind of enjoy the suffering.  
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes... Were two hands holding an apple. Like the cover of this book about Vampires who can show up in daylight, that my best friend Kaylee used to read. Then, those hands threw the apple at me, hitting me in the face.

Looking back again, this time there was a hand offering help to stand up.

"Next time, please make more noise" Sky said while he helped me on my feet again.

It must had been already an hour and a half since we got ambushed, but Sky looked down to earth, as he didn´t just risked his life in this stupid desert town.

"Oh my god Sky, next time you do that let me please somehow know, ok?" Rick said, while reaching his fist to Sky's face. Then he hugged him and said "Thanks Dude". We all took a breath.  
"Guys can we just go, please?" Rick was still shit scared. To be honest, although I tried playing it cool... I couldn't agree more.

"Command Post, here is Echo. The Three Musketeers are on their way, over" I said. The Three Musketeers was the code for the 3 of us being together.

"Our UAV saw a Flash down there, are you guys ok?, over" Somebody in CP called.

"It was Sky's Flashbang. We are on our way to the Rendezvous Point, over and out" Trying to concentrate on how we were going to run the 3 kilometers through that town, now that everybody knew we were here.

"We must run!. That bang and the gunshots must have warned the whole town" I said, nervous of meeting more militia.

"Well… I didn't receive any orders… where to then?" Sky said, still playing it cool.

"To the south, this way!" I said, going to way the militia came from.

We were already on our way south. It was just and alley 15 meters away, parallel to the staircase and smaller than the one we were running through.

"They'll make us pay for the HUMVEE guys" Rick said as a Joke

"Well… I got a few quarters in my wallet…" I said following his game.

"Don't worry about that guys, I got something for "The Boss" that will pay for 30 HUMVEEs".

Rick insisted to know what that thing was; but Sky's main worry at the time was sprinting those 3 kilometers and praying not to face any major resistance in the way.

END CHAPTER I

**PS: No Soap and No Price yet… but you will see how sutil and awesome my story will link with Modern Warfare**

**PSS: Dear Littleweasleygirlkatecastle, I know you wont ever read this story but I still want to thank you AGAIN for showing me this awesome website.**

**EXTRAS/Glossary**

**_SCAR _**_is a gun and **ACOG **is a kind of "Scoped" Sight._

_HUMVEE is a Vehicle, looking like the Hummer but more military like._

_UAV is an Unmanned aerial Vehicle, which is a plane with a camera that helps scouting places without risking actual pilots._

_The German words aren't mistakes or Translation mistakes. That will be explained in the next chapters._

_Übermensch, is a concept from Nietzsche - look it up in wikipedia - .org/wiki/Übermensch - did the job for you._

_Hauptsache is a word meaning literaly "Main thing". I just like it too much_

_Arsch der Welt... meaning ass of the world... means actually that... a place being way to far away._


	2. Feuertaufe to begin with

**Well there were no reviews, but many of u did message me to continue writing :P. I find it awesome that you liked that.  
Now is part II. Still not really CoD, but after this, u will somehow know.  
**

**

* * *

**

Those three kilometers were the longest we had ever run. We were tired, disoriented and wanted nothing but to go back to the barracks and get some sleep, and maybe take a hot shower. We were but another _three_ _long_ kilometers and a chopper flight away from that.

This City hadn't been mapped yet, which meant there was no Navigation System… no Garmin, no Tom Tom… nor Google Places to be used. It was full of small alleys, and dead ends. Our map of the Town wasn't that detailed. Actually, it wasn't detailed at all. It didn't include anything but the main roads, which we, for obvious reasons, were NOT going to use. I could remember folding it 3 times. The third part including the Rally Point and everything a kilometer south from where we were, was gone… which meant I didn't know what to expect on the way to where we were supposed to go. I remember giving Rick a piece of that map, not long ago to clean up his hands after he made me favor and put my SCAR in conditions. It was the first tissue replacement I had with me. Not that i cared anymore. That part of the map wouldn't have been helpful anyways.

"Dude, this will be impossible without knowing the way. Maybe we can fetch got some satellite footage from CP?" Rick asked, trying to command his fear.

Sky looked up. He could see a thing in the air. Was too small for a plane, and to thin to be a valley bird.

"Bro! Is that an UAV? We might use it to guide us to Rally Point" Sky exclaimed, like if he had found that pot full of coins at the end of the rainbow.

"CP, Here Echo. Requesting UAV Feed. This is a labyrinth!, over" I desperately asked, since the enemy could be everywhere, and it was their city, their territory. If this had happened in Virginia, and we were hunting them down… they wouldn't stand a chance. They would be dead by now. But we weren't. We were in their place, we were messing in someone else's sandbox. I could actually get why they were so furious. I wouldn't like anybody threating the life of my people. But well, the idea of fighting in my homeland at that time was nothing to expect. War in the States? In the _twentytens_? Impossible.

"Echo, Here CP. We have one in the air. Any of you has his Pad with him, over?"

I told Sky and Rick to check in their bags. My Pad was totally screwed. Rick had lost his, but Sky did have his with him.

"CP, Sky´s Pad is good, he´s checking for 4G signal now, over" I responded. Sky wore off his right glove and put it in his bag. He went a little throught the settings, activating the 4G network and getting ready for aGPS integration to the live stream. He started the live feeds application

"OK Echo, we are streaming our UAV footage in channel 7, over and out"

We never liked 4G that much. Although their population lacked good living conditions, no good road, or not even good, clean running water… they had 4G interceptors. They could get our position with a couple meter errors. All our 4G-Ready gear had this Disclaimer: "Use at your own risk". We hid behind some trash bins while we saw the UAV feed. There was a green square were we were supposed to be. We saw a lot of movement in the adjacent streets. We had an idea of how to keep on moving.

"Let's go this way! Stay sharp!" Sky said, letting me carry the Pad.

"Shit!" Rick said. "Are they all tangos on the screen".

"No. everything no carrying one of this Tags is shown red. Most of them are probably Civilians… so watch your fire. Keep the wounded count low". That was no paintball, it was real deal. If people were shot, they would die. I didn't want to carry that unnecessary extra weigh on my shoulders

Sky and Rick were ahead, leaving me behind, trying to find a path in that hell of small alleys and probable ambush corners. I couldn't zoom out and somehow I couldn't control the UAV from there, but as long as I could see a bit ahead, it was fine for me. I could guess we had another good 2 kilometers to go.

We kept on the same way, still going south. I'd let the action to my mates, concentrating on the screen, trying not to lose touch to our actual position. There was resistance ahead.

"Stop! Tangos 100 meters ahead… lets better go on this way" I said. We turned to the left, going east.

We moved another 100 meters that way, and then I found an alley, almost complete dark. The were only a couple sun light leaks, but it was good enough to get under cover. We only could see a light at the end. It was quite a long corridor; pretty small as well. We gathered in a line and went in me standing between Rick and Sky, never pulling my eyes away from the screen. I offered following that alley south, and we took it.

The UAV lost our position, because the alley was tall enough and it was too small, and there was no angle for the UAV to see us. Then, I saw a bright flash on the screen, and almost instantaneously we heard a explosion.

"What was what?" Rick asked, not being able to actually see anything but the end of the alley. I instantly recognized that sound though. It was a _Javelin_ flying directly to our only hope.

We stood there, watching that screen, seeing how our eyes in the sky was about to be taken down.

"What the hell?" Said Rick "They even have _Javelins_!"

We got words from CP right away. One HUMVEE and a UAV, hopefully Sky wasn't bluffing about what he got.

"Echo Unit, we lost UAV Footage, what's your status, over"

"CP, here Echo Unit, we are hiding in an alley, about 2 kilometers from Rally Point, UAV got shot down by a Land-Air missile, over" I said desperately, trying to picture that map in my mind, and the way to our destination.

"God Dammit!" I heard the Major swear over the radio as if we were screwed. We had even pissed off the Major, and that was something to consider. Maybe it was the best not go back to the barracks.

We went to the end of that alley. Zooming out that video feed would have helped. We were standing meter away from the central marketplace. There was a huge building in the center, probably some important political house or something, and lots and lots of people. There were tall palm trees in the center, and also a huge fountain. It was quite picturesque. It was nothing compared to where we were running from. There were people trading food, fabrics and other items.

"That's it… we are dead" Rick said, after only looking at the sky in despair. I didn't know what to do neither. There was still a while to Rally Point, and we felt so pinned down.

Somehow, the people were just walking there, a little rapid paced, as if it was Rush Hour. They were calmed though, as if nothing had happened. They probably got used to people shooting guns in the middle of the day, or UAVs getting put down with Land to Air missiles. Quite a crazy lifestyle they had to live through every day.

We were in one of the corners of that huge square. The northwestern corner. We were still in the shadows. Nobody would look for us in the main plaza. It was a safe place to stay for a while.

"CP! This is Delta! We are getting hit! We are getting hit! We can´t hold much longer! Where the hell is Echo Unit!, over!"

"Delta Unit, CP speaking. Echo is on the way, please use channel 16 to speak directly to them, over and out!"

I passed that information to my mates. Rick was completely hopeless. Sky took a long breath. He looked his watch. He didn't actually look at the time. There was a family picture there which he liked a lot. Under it, there was a picture of his whole life girlfriend Taylor. They knew each other since, always, since I remember meeting other children. I believe it was the first day in Kindergarten when she had hit her knee trying to get out of the sandbox and Sky grabbed her, gave her a daisy which grew just next to it, between the box and the swings, and brought her to the Nurses office. It's been all Sky and Taylor since then.

At that point, Rick had lost it. With his eyes closed, and his hands on his face. He didn't want to die. Well, neither of us wanted that. I was trying to work out a plan… but time was running out. Rick pulled out a picture of his family, and watched it.

"Echo Unit here's Delta, where the hell are you guys!, over!" I heard on my earplug.

"We are pinned down, trying to work out a plan!, over!" I said desperately. I couldn't think of nothing that would get us out without some assistance.

"We got rid of the hostiles, but they know where we are, we won't make it through another Wave! HURRY UP!, Over and out!" Those last three words echoed in my mind.

I turned to my fellas. They could see how afraid I was. They could see the fear in my eyes.

"Delta won't hold another wave. We are running out of time" I shared with them. We all felt that shiver. It all stopped for a moment. Then, Sky broke the ice. He used his binoculars to scout the area. He then turned to me.

"Is that south?" He asked, pointing his index finger straight ahead. The path going throught the west side of the main square. I doubled check my compass, and then nodded.

He waited a few seconds. He then took a deep breath.

"Der würfel ist geworfen" Sky said with his best neuter German accent. I did know what that meant, but didn't get what Sky was trying to say. I remember our Grampa saying that a lot to us, whenever we screwed up.

"Der what?" Rick replied. Feeling fooled by Sky, in not the best situation. His was about to lose it.

"Alea iacta est, Rick. Julius Caesar quote" I explained, in a chance to give a meaning to what he was trying to say.

"Fucking Foreign Languages, speak English to me!" Rick yelled. He didn't care about people hearing us… it was loud enough not to be heard.

"The Dice is rolled…" Sky said, looking at the floor. Rick didn't still understand what he was trying to say; neither did I.

"Oh my god, we are going to stay! They are going to leave! We will die in this desert!" Rick said desperately.

Sky changed his looks to a most serious one. Much more serious. He grabbed Rick shirt and yelled at him.

"NO RICK!, I don't know about you but… I-AM-NOT-DYING-HERE! I will NOT die TODAY!" Sky was off, completely mad. Not at us, but at the unfair situation.

"I love you…" Sky whispered, holding his watch tight and watching to the ground. He put his watch back in his pocket, checked his boots, his gun´s magazine. He cocked the first bullet.

I don't know why, but I pulled out the pistol and did the same. Rick looked at me, he didn't get the situation. Although I kind of had an idea about what Sky was going to do (This Twin Sync thing probably) his words right after that shocked me

"LEEEROY JENKINS!" Sky yelled, running through the path straight ahead, going just south, shooting into the air, just wasting rounds at no targets. That made the whole crowd go nuts. It was total chaos. People running in no direction, trying to get away from this maniac _Amokläufer__._

"Hurry up Rick, do not stand back, MOVE!" I said, then sprinting as fast as I could, trying to keep on Sky´s pace. Rick didn't have another choice, he had to go mad with us, or stay there and be killed anyways. He joined Sky in his campaign against the open sky.

Up to the middle of this path west boarding the plaza, was actually the shortest part of the whole trail. There was no resistance. No snipers on the roofs, and well if there were, they were gentle enough not to just shoot at the people screaming and making a mess. There were people rioting, some throwing fruits at us, some stealing fruits from stalls, but nothing of that could get my mind out of the run. I could feel the adrenaline. That adrenaline that they had offered me, was in me. I felt invincible, as if I were using a Trainer or God Mode. Just thought, it only rested a bit running, sprinting that kilometer and then we would be done.

When we went past that building in the middle, we got shot at by the buildings guards. Bullets ricocheting in the wood stalls. The bottles of milk, of wine and other containers who got hit, left a trail of glass splinters and wet stains on the floor.

Rick got way ahead of us, he went past a perpendicular path, which was the one going behind the building in the middle. It was also the one who limited the Plaza from the south. Crossing that path meant being in the town again. He was way ahead us. Not even close to passing that road, we saw two soldier heading Rick´s way, about to shoot the fleeing infidel. Sky took care of them, with impressive accuracy while just going from sprinting to walking fast-paced. We started sprinting right away.

We were about to leave the plaza, two soldiers faced us, one holding a Rifle and one holding a Pistol. I shot them both with my USP. The first, falling on his back, with his finger still pulling the trigger, shooting his whole magazine hitting no one. The second one had already shot a round, which hit Sky in the stomach. I caught him before he fell, he was conscious but there was no chance he could walk the last 500 meters. As I caught him, I pulled him up and starting running again.

"Take my bag and leave me here" Sky said. Referring to that thing he said he got his bag.

"NO WAY!, I will not be called Private MacMillian, EVER" The only reason we were called by our names was because we were both the same rank, and both looked the same. It was a special request to join the army, to be assigned together, despite of the Army code not to put brothers to the same regiment, as an excuse not to send two letters, two flags and two coffins back home together.

"Rick! Cover me, Sky´s hit! We need to hurry" I yelled. Rick didn't panic as I expected. He followed my order and stayed alert.

I then started communicating with Delta again.

"Delta, here Echo, we are almost there, you copy, over?"

"Echo, here Delta, we hear you. Are you ok, over?"

"Sky´s hit, Rick and I made it safe. He is bleeding too much, got a medic with you, over?" I started to feel desperate, about my brother being so brave, and having to die like this,

"Echo, we do got a medic, where was he hit, over?"

"In the stomach, I couldn't tell much, be ready we are almost there, over!"

"We cant see much because of the sand, Have you got anything to distinguish you, over?"

"Ill throw a green smoke grenade ahead, I can already hear the chopper, waiting for admision, over and out"

We stopped for a moment, not wanting to be taken down by friendly fire. There were many roads going that way, and they couldn't risk not guarding them all. I asked Rick to throw a smoke grenade as far as he could. He did so, and the smoke started to fill our destination. It was like the end of a race, we had made it.

"Admitted to the Ball Echo, be ready to interception back up"

Sky had passed out. I gave him over to the medic who took him to the chopper.

I could finally take a deep breath. I got in the chopper at last, sat and fastened my seatbelt.

We took off. I could take a good look at the city. I found a fine smoking column a few kilometers away, probably our HUMVEE.

I turned to Rick, who was pale and watched Sky be taken care of by the medic.

"Rick, Rick" I called. No answer, he was still staring at Sky and the medic. He wouldn't turn to talk to me.

I could feel Sky´s pain. I didn't trust myself to ask for the diagnosis. Rick was faster than me.

"Doc, is he going to make it?" Rick said, quitting his stance.

He waited long until he said something.

"Yes, no worries. I´ll take care of him. "

We all took a breath. We didn't speak, just looked at each other then to other sides, then to the floor.

"Hey!" Rick said. "What was that, that is worth 30 HUMVEEs?

* * *

_**So that was about Chapter II. I do have a chapter 3 so, keep on reading ;).**_

_**Add me in msn if u want, it is just the same email address.**_

_**Bye!**_

_**LordSP**_


	3. Debriefing

**So guys, Chapter III. Enjoy! I hope you start writing reviews and not emails :P.  
Ill upload Chapter IV (The shortest so far) tomorrow.**

Chapter III: Debriefing

"So Pvt. MacMillan, what was in that bag?" Sgt. Adams asked. I had to get used to being addressed that way in debriefings.

"Excuse me sir, but I was told that information regarding my brother's bag and its content was strictly classified." I replied.

"And who told you that?" He said with sarcasm.

""The Boss", sir." I said calmly

"Ok, MacMillan I´m done with you. You may leave now"

I left the room, and went directly to the hospital facility. I had Rick called, so we could go see how Sky was doing. We met in the cafeteria.

"Hey Rick, how are you!" I asked as soon as I saw him

"Hey, pretty good. I just needed to rest" He answered. We started walking towards the hospital. We started to chat. We preferred walking, although the hospital facility was quite far away. There was no militia following us, and Sky wasn't going anywhere so well, everything was fine..

"How was your debriefing?" He asked

"Ok I guess, I told the Sergeant everything"

"God, did you make me look bad?" He said, pretending to be worried.

"Nah, I kept that to myself. I just told in short manners what had happened"

"Did he ask you about the bag?" Rick said. He was worried now.

"Yeah, but I told him what "The Boss" said. I want to talk to Sky about that all as well" I said, trying to keep that matter between us, and not talk about it publicly.

"You got the hard drive with you?" He asked.

"Yep Rick, I do, so don't worry… let's just see how Sky is doing" Ending with the topic for good

Besides Sky´s stuff, his bag contained a Laptop, an external Hard Drive, a Cellphone and a couple other items like a Militia Beret. He had been Scavenging and well, that is what he found. We found all these items as soon as we were back in our barrack. There was a note stuck with chewing gum to the cellphone.

_In case I don't make it, make a copy of all files before turning the stuff in - Skyler._

I didn't doubt about doing so. It took us less than 15 minutes to copy everything into my hard drive. Rick brought Sky´s findings in. He even came in saying "This will pay for the HUMVEE, the UAV and well… you will be owing us a couple millon dollars".

The Sergeant loved that initiative. He sent the things to the Lab to be checked up for Enemy Intel. He was quite positive on our mission being a huge success. He promised that if it was good enough, there would be promotions, days off and even Plane Tickets back to the States.

We didn't talked much after that, we just joked about running 3 kilometers the next day, (just to stay fit and beat out hour and a half mark). That was going to be quite an insider between us until today. We got to the hospital about 15 minutes later. It was an actual building, not like those Campaign Tent Hospitals in the desert. This one had doors, walls and best of all, air conditioning. It was the best place to stay in miles. I wasn't exactly looking forward to staying there though, cause that meant getting shot or wounded, or that you needed surgery

We brought him some Toblerone, his favorite Candy, which we had bought from the Dutch division who was staying in our Base. Items like these were impossible to get in this place. All what was smuggled in, was paid with high_taxes_. Sky was worth it though. He had saved our lives that day, and if he was right about those findings, we would get sent back home for a change. Maybe payrolls rise as well? I was probably pushing it too far, but well who knows, I thought.

"Excuse me miss. We are looking for Private Skyler MacMillan" I asked as soon as we got in the reception.

"You have to take a number and wait soldier" The nurse said. She wasn't that nice, but well, rules are rules.

The reception hall was empty, or nearly empty. I raised my view to check the LED. The current number was "181". I pulled a ticket from the roll. It was the 182. I went to the reception counter again, just as the nurse moved to the next number. I heard the bell ring, and then she smiled at me saying:

"Welcome to the Hospital Facility, what can I do for you?" Now she was happy, smiled and talked with a sweet teenage voice. She was kind of cute, so I tried my best not to be angry at her.

"Yes miss, we are looking for Private MacMillan" I said, trying to sound like a kid, trying to play along. She looked at the screen and said

"Hmmm, MacMillan… MacMillan. Hmmm MacAllister, MacGregor, MacIntosh"

She was playing games with me. I was about to lose it, I wasn't in the mood to be played with.

"Who is looking for Skyler?" A woman voice made us look quickly to the right.

It was a woman with a white robe. She looked like a doctor but was pretty young. She was probably doing some volunteering job before graduating med school. She had long blond curly hair and hazel eyes. She wore frameless glasses, with pink temple arms. It was the perfect color combination right there; Pink and blond.

Rick wanted to play prince charming. He stepped forward.

"I am doc. Let me introduce myself, Private First Class Richard Martin ma'am" He said, standing and saluting.

She made a face. She was holding a Pad, like one of those we had. She searched for him in their Database. She was standing a couple meters away. She walked in our direction, leaned on the wall.

"Come forward Private Martin" She replied. "I know he was just moved to a regular bed a few hours ago. The operation worked out just fine"

We walked towards her and stood. She was having a hard time with the Pad.

"Dammit!" She screamed "I still cannot get used to these Touch-screen Pad!. Just a second".

It wasn't that hard for me… but this technology was just a year old or something. It was quite practical, but well, it was hard for many people to get used to it.

"May I help you ma'am?" I said, reaching my hand.

"Oh please, I just don't know where I am now, I was supposed to search for Skyler but now I'm calling Intensive Care" She replied, passing me board while looking down, like she were embarrassed.

Nobody reads manuals nowadays. Well I don't do that neither but , I played with my Pad for hours after I got it. I even learned everything about my gear fooling around with it; even Semtex grenades.

"Hello Amy, what is it?" I heard someone say. Then I ended the call.

"You can apologize later" I said. She briefly looked at the Pad and then went back to her previous stance.

Then, I tapped the Pad's only button. That was the main menu there. Then I tapped it twice, trying to close the applications she had opened; since she ever got the Pad.

"Here ma'am, just like new" I said, reaching her the Pad.

"Oh thank you. Please call me A-" She stopped talking. Then she looked at me as if she had seen a ghost. I looked behind me, at Rick. He made a "I don't know" shrug with his shoulders. Then I got it.

"Oh Amy, I'm sorry. I'm Private Nathan MacMillan, Skyler's twin brother" I said.

"Oh" She said, cleaning that scary face and looking cute and smiley. "I did read about a brother in his file. Didn't know he was a twin brother though" She added.

She went through the files again. It did take her another couple of minutes though.

"So Nathan, Richard, follow me" She said. "Medic leads the way" She added, mocking the Rangers Motto.

"She even has a sense of humor" Rick whispered, and then passed me folded piece of paper.

I unfolded it as we walked. There was only one word written on the paper:

_Mine._

"Sure Rick, don't worry" I said. Amy then turned to watch behind her.

"What's up with you people? What do you got between hands?" She said. I was sure she knew what was going on already. She was probably used to male soldier's compliments.

"Nothing Amy. I only have this" He said, showing her the chocolate bar, pretending he didn't get what she meant. That movement turned out well.

"Oh Gosh, is that Toblerone? I LOVE IT" She said, now walking backwards and making a V cheer with her arms when saying "LOVE".

Suddenly another nurse was coming out of a room with a cart.

"Amy, watch out!" I yelled, but it was too late.

She pushed the cart and fell. The things on the cart fell over her. There was a vase with flowers, medicine, food leftovers and other things; a recently used urinal pot being the worse. We rushed to her. Rick reached her his hand to help her stand up. Stunned by my friends manners, I hit him in the back of the head. He turned to me and showed me his "What's your problem?" face. I made the mimic of a hug while moving my lips saying "On your knees, hug her".

"Ah, ok ok" was his answer. Then he gave me Skyler's present

"Amy, are you ok?" Rick said, while he went on his knees and helped her remove some noodles which were now stuck her hair.

"Stop! Please!" She said. She had started to cry. Her Pad was wet, from the pot's content; her robe as well.

"Please Amy, don't cry… it's fine!" Rick said, trying to comfort her. He looked around, and found the broken vase with the flowers.

"Its not fine!" Amy said. "I just fell, made a fool of myself. I got noodles in my hair and I'm wet all over!"

"And you are bleeding" I said. I regret saying that, it wasn't quite nice from me to say it. Not actually saying it, but the way I said it, way too direct and didn't help at all.

"We need a doctor!" Rick yelled. The vase was now broken, and there was glass splinter all over the floor. Rick picked her up, and put her in a stretcher which was free, right to the left. Amy started whining.

"Please Amy don't be sad, everything will be ok" Rick said.

"Private, what happened" A man said. Probably a nurse; he was wearing blue robes

"She fell, and cut herself with a broken vase" I said

"Ok, lets move you to a room" He said calmly. It wasn't that serious actually, but the whole situation was already too much for her.

"Wait just a sec" Rick said. He quickly picked up the only flower which was still ok, and gave it to her - "I got to go now, but I'll come back to check on you" He smiled at her.

She smiled back

"Thank you, Rick. Cornflowers are my favorites" She said. "Skyler is that room by the way. Room 13".

Rick and I helped the nurse clean up while Amy was being taken to a room at the end of the corridor. Amy's glasses were on the floor. Rick picked them up and stood up. He was about to run to her to give them back.

I stopped him, grabbing his shoulder while shaking by head.

"You have a reason to meet her again now" I said. "Got it?" and then I blinked.

"You, my friend, are a genius" He replied.

We then went to Skyler's room. He was sitting, still with IV, but looked cleaned up and happy.

"You can´t just help it, huh? You must always make a mess and alert everybody of your presence" He said while trying to laugh.

"Shut up, Sky!" Rick said. "Here, I got you something from the European guys visiting. Now you cannot say that your friends don't care about you"

Sky face changed from "I just got a bullet removed from me" to "I just won the lottery"

"I never said that… I even think you care too much" He replied

I grinned.

"You´ll never change bro. How are you?" I was happy to see my brother doing alright. I was secretly worried about that wound having complications.

"Well, as good as somebody who got shot by a random guy in a desert town can be. What about you guys"

"Well, Nathan and I had our debriefing this afternoon. But didn't do much since we came back here" Rick said.

"Did you meet Amy?" Sky said randomly - "She was really nice to me"

"Yes" I said "Actually, she was quite shocked when she saw me" - Rick laughed to that.

"_Hä_?" Skyler said. "How does somebody so go…" He interrumped himself, then added "Oh, did she see a ghost?" We were actually quite used to people doing that.

"Yes. You see Rick, he is embarrassed. He has always been. Never mentions me to anyone" I said,

"God no, it is just fun to fool people"

We all laughed.

There was a minute pause. Rick went to the windows and close the curtains. He saw the sunset in the distance. It was at the moment hard to believe that there could be such a beautiful sunset in such a creppy part of the world.

I opened the Toblerone package and gave Skyler a triangle.

"Thanks again for the chocolate guys. I really missed it"

"No problem bro, you'd do the same for us, wouldn't you?"

"Of course, of course" Skyler replied. Not in a mocking way, but in an actual trustworthy way.

Rick came back and sat on the bed.

"So Sky… where and how did you get all that stuff" Rick couldn't help his curiosity any longer. He had to know

"Well Rick, I just happened to run into it" He said and started to tell his story

* * *

**So guys this is chapter three. I hope you enjoyed it. If there is any grammer mistake please correct and well review, or mail, or whatever :P.**

**See ya**

**LordSP**


	4. Behind enemy lines

**Ok so here is chapter four. So yeah, enjoy reading :) (Shortest Chapter so far, there is just not much ot say)**

* * *

"Hey Nathan, how´s everything up there" Rick said to me. I was manning the minigun while Sky drove and Rick sat in the passenger seat.

"Yeah dude, everything´s clean" I replied. I saw no movement and there wasn't much noise besides the HUMVEE's engine.

"Maybe they are praying?" Rick added.

"I don't know, let's just keep looking" Skyler said.

* * *

"Yes Sky, we were all there. But we hadn't find a thing till then" Rick said to Sky, still sitting on his bed and trying to tell what had happened to him before he met with us

"Yes, but remember what happened then…" Sky replied. And then he went on narrating

* * *

"Enemies right ahead! Second Floor, mud brick house!" I yelled, and started shooting the mini gun in that direction. They had started shooting at our Vehicle already. Rick looked down his binoculars

"RPG spotted, fall back!" Rick said. "Come on Sky, gas!"

They shot one RPG round, which went off right in front of us. I left the mini gun and took cover. We pulled a few meters backwards before we crashed with some parked cars.

"Out, out, out!" Sky yelled. He got out, Rick as well. About me... I wasn't that lucky.

* * *

"Yes Sky, I know that… I had a rough landing" I said. "What happened after that..."

"Well, I tried going for you, but the whole enemy fire was on me, so I had to flee". Sky went on with his story.

* * *

He rushed into cover, in an alley not far away from there. He pulled out his M9 and put a suppressor to it. He was alone now, and didn't want to attract any unwanted attention. He heard some voices and gun cocking ahead. It seemed to be many bad guys in the nearby. He looked for cover, only to find the backdoor of a building. He tried for it, but it was locked. He shot two rounds and got in. He then closed the door and waited. It was dark inside, but he didn't want to see anything neither. He wanted to escape without being seen. He heard people running through the alley outside. There were many of them; he wouldn't stand a chance against them alone. He waited for them to run by. Then he took a moment to reload his gun, checked all of his gear and suppressed his Assault Rifle. There was some movement inside the house he was staying in. A man was yelling and a woman. He got scared to be spotted by civilians so he rushed outside, and tried to close the now unlockable door.

He walked down that alley and turned left. He walked a bit more down that path and then saw a staircase going down. He crawled and used his camera to scout what was under it. It looked like a command post. There was a man with a red beret standing, crossing arms, watching others work on their computers.

Sky crawled down the stairs and hid behind a tent. There weren't many people there. The rest was probably looking for us. He looked around trying to cross check on all possible hostiles. From where he was, there were five people, including the man with the beret.

Sky checked under the tent with his camera, and there was nobody there. He pulled out his knife and cut his way in. There were many guns and ammunition there. He saw the shadow of somebody walk around the tent, so he hid behind an ammunition crate. Two men walked inside. They were recharging magazines.

Sky tried to get in a better ambush position, but as he did, he tripped over an RPG barrel.

The soldiers turned around. He heard their guns leaving their holsters. He then crawled to the side and waited. Both men looked over the crates to see what the noise was, just to find nothing. Sky wasn't there anymore.

Suddenly he stood up facing the men´s left, and shot _two _rounds at each of them, killing them both. The other people outside didn't hear a thing. They were probably too busy on hunting down the fugitive soldiers.

Sky put his gun in his holster and then pulled out his Assault Rifle. He went outside the tent. There was only this man with the Red Beret and two people sitting infront of their laptops. They were facing exactly the other way.

He walked slowly in their direction always aiming the man standing. Then, a cellphone rang. It was behind him. The man turned around and was now facing Sky.

* * *

"Gezz Sky, did you kill him?" Rick said "Remember it is not allowed to shoot at anybody who isn't a threat to you"

"Don't lecture me, Rick. And no, I did not"

* * *

The man´s surprise when he saw Sky didn't let him move his lips. He was in shock, and so was Sky. Neither of them moved.

The cellphone was still ringing. One of the PC Operators said something to him. Probably he was asking why he didn't take the call. He answered him briefly. The operator reaction was a "huh?" and then turned around.

Sky hit the standing man with the back of his assault rifle. Full hit in the chin, knocked out instantly. Quickly he turned to the operator and shot him just as he tried to shoot sky with his gun.

The other operator raised his hands. I asked him, in English, to go on his knees. He complied.

"How many of you are around?" Sky asked. The man, with tears in his eyes answered with a heavy Arabic accent.

"Two, in tent"

Sky hit him as well. He didn't have much time before the guy on the other side of the line realized something went wrong and requested a team to come look for him.

Sky quickly got his fingerprint scan and used it on the man with the red beret. He searched for important stuff. Found a Laptop with an external hard drive connected to it. He then picked up the cellphone, took the battery off and put all in his bag. He took the Red Beret as well, as _souvenir_.

He heard people yelling in the direction he came from. He had to leave soon, or they would find the criminal in the crime scene.

He run down the first street he saw. Then he made random turns. He didn't know where he was. He didn't have a compass or a GPS. He couldn't contact his team over radio and just tried getting out of trouble and hoped he would be able to contact them soon.

Going through another alley he heard the screaming of a small girl and that characteristic sound of a bowl spinning after it fells to the ground. He took cover at the side of that small street, between a stall and a house.

The girl screaming turned louder and then she was stopped by a group of soldiers. Three of them

"_Chi shod_?" A guard said. Sky´s little Farsi knowledge helped him at the time. He knew that meant "_What´s wrong_?"

The little girl was crying and said many things, to what Sky only understood "Bad guys". He then knew he had found their mates. He followed the soldiers.

He had a flashbang grenade ready to ambush them. He walked a few meters behind them and then did the trick.

* * *

"And then you pissed Rick off and hit me with an apple, right?" I said.

"Sure Bro!" Sky replied. "Did receive what I deserved" he added, pointing at this eye, which had a bruise now.

We laughed about it. Our lives weren't in danger anymore. It was all just a war story.

"By the way Nathan, did you get my message?" Sky asked, probably talking about the one stuck at the cellphone he had found.

"If you mean your chewing gum… yes I got it" I said, showing him my external hard drive.

"Awesome" Sky replied. "Rick, can you reach me my Laptop? It is on that table over there"

"Sweet, we are now going to go through terrorist information!" Rick said excited.

I was also excited to see we had found.

Rick plugged the Laptop´s charger, and sat at the bed next the Sky. I did the same, siting at Sky´s right and plugged the external hard drive.

Sky and Rick were quite surprised about what we found out right after plugging the hard drive. I was not quite that surprised… it was all foreign language.

"Well guys, now what?" Rick said.

"Well there are pictures and videos… we could watch those" I offered "Or you can check the folder "Cellphone Record". I put all the cellphone info there"

"Try an online Translator, there must be something that can translate that to English" Rick said. He really wanted to know what that all was.

We went through the files after translating it. There were weapon inventories, information about soldiers, information about spies in American soil. There were many .dwg files, which we couldn't open.

"Oh yeah, those are AutoCAD files. Try with Butterfly at " I said.

"And you know that how?" Rick said

"Well I just know ok?" I said to Rick. He didn't know about my devotion to become an Engineer before joining the Army. We both wanted to, but at the end we felt the army was better choice at first, and then we could go to college and get that paid by the army after our 5th year.

He went to the website and uploaded the first file. It was a blueprint of a garden. We then tried the others; more blueprints. It was a huge three _etage_ building. The label was also In a foreign language which we didn't know.

On almost every picture from that folder there was one man starring every one. On one of them, there was this man dressed with a suit, hugging a woman, probably his wife, standing before a huge building. Probably it was the building from the blueprints.

After checking the phone record, there was a name repeating itself a lot. This man had called our Beret guy almost every half an hour, and was also the one who had called him before Sky sent him to dreamland. Rick then broke the silence.

"Who the hell is this Khaled Al-Asad anyway?"

* * *

**I believe you recall that name huh? I told you all, everything's linked.**

**See ya.**

**LordSP**


	5. Rewards and Promotions

**So Chapter V. Not a lot of action in this chapter, and neither in the next few, but this part is another wing from my story. Hopefully I´m good enought expressing what I wanted to say. Its quite difficult to say exactly what is in my mind :(.**

**So guys, Enjoy :D**

* * *

Chapter V: Promotions and Rewards.

Just as Rick named this man, Maj. Shepard came in.

"Did somebody mention Al-Asad?" The major said. He was holding three boxes, a bottle with a blue label and was dressed with full uniform.

We looked at each other as if we didn't know what he was talking about. Rick was nervous at the time. Actually, we all were. We weren't supposed to be looking at those files. It was government´s property now, and having a copy of them was illegal. Although we knew we weren't allowed to have the files in our possession, we wanted to know how good the information was and if the army would reward us good enough.

"Gentlemen, what do you know about Khaled Al-Asad?" He asked. Sky closed the laptop´s lid and unplugged it and put it under the blanket. I hid the hard drive under the pillow

"We heard it back in the desert, sir" I said. He then shook his head. "_We are screwed" _I thought.

"Gentlemen, or I should probably say, kids" He said still shaking his head. "I wasn't born yesterday you know?" He proceeded.

"Major, sir, I can explain…" Sky said, just to be interrupted by the major, who made a stop sign with the hand holding the Whisky Bottle. He proceeded to walk to a table to our right, left the bottle and the boxes there. I saw he was also carrying a small backpack. It was a regular black backpack, not a military design one.

"Martin, hold" Shepard said, throwing Rick the backpack. It was cold and kinda heavy, but he got to hold it without a problem. "Empty it on that other table over there"

"Yes Sir!" Rick said. It was an insulated bag, prepared to keep things cold. It was pretty useful here, where the temperatures could get quite hot… something between the 35-40°C on the day.

When Rick opened the backpack, he found four scotch glasses and a bag of ice cubes. He smiled and turned to face the major about to offer to prepare the glasses when he was interrupted.

"Prepare the glasses Martin. It's an order" The major said, pointing his index finger at Rick, erasing the smile in his face making him quite nervous. Then he smiled and blinked. He got his cellphone out of his belt cellphone pouch. He pressed the turn on button, slid his finger to unblock the screen and then dialed a number. He then turned the speaker on. There were three tones and then somebody answered

"Yes sir, Private Allen speaking" A man said. It was Tobias a FNG who was sent here to do his basic training, and was now running errands for high ranks.

"Private Allen, stop searching for MacMillan and Martin, I've found them already"

"Roger that sir, consider it done" He said politely.

"Thank you Toby" He replied. "This new guy… good kid but still needs some training" He ended the call and left his cellphone at the table

"Gentlemen, as you already know, I am supposed to turn you in, and get your asses kicked into prison for the duplication and illegal possession of evidence… which you even read already" He said.

"Major, sir, please let me…" I said, but then we got the hand again.

"But, people like you are the ones that make this army the greatest army in the world. Men with guts. Men that get the job done" He grabbed the bottle and walked towards Rick.

"Gentlemen, this is time to celebrate" he continued, opened the bottle and started purring whisky in the glasses Rick had already prepared.

"You guys deserve this" he proceeded showing us the bottle.

"Johnny Walker's Blue Label, the best of Scottish whiskey, or at least my favorite". He then left the bottle at the table.

"It is actually my promotion present, but I wanted to share it with you, the reason of that promotion" He said, while he reached Sky and me and glass.

"Thank you, sir" I said, when I received the glass.

"Thank you Major, but I don't think…" Sky said, pointing at the IV and him sitting in a hospital bed. Shepard interrupted shaking his head, a bit stronger now and holding his own hands in a praying position.

"Come on MacMillan don't be a puss. You are the hero here. I don't even want to know what you had to go through to get those items. Please at least toast and take a sip" He said, then raising his glass, close enough to Sky, so we all could toast together.

Rick rushed to his glass, and came back next to the bed.

"For you gentlemen, the bravest men I had the honor to lead into battle" Shepard toasted.

"Hooah!" We all said and drank a sip of scotch. Shepard drank the whole content only leaving the ice cubes in the glass.

"Really good stuff, sir" Rick said, nodding and drinking another sip.

"Yes Martin, it costs that much for a reason"

"How much a bottle if I may know" Rick asked, drinking another sip. He really liked it, but it was too strong not to drink it by sips.

"It seems Martin just found his favorite drink" He laughed. - "Unfortunately it costs much more than beer. I´ve seen it in Airports for 165 bucks, but this kind is the most expensive and exactly this bottle is an anniversary edition. Plus, you know how much these things cost here". We all laughed.

"We do sir, we do" I said, then showed him the Toblerone bar and then left it again at the night table next to Sky.

"Hooah, good old Toblerone. Used to be my ex-wife´s and my favorite. May I take a piece?" He asked.

"Sure thing Major. Here" Sky said, and then tried to reach Shepard the bar as near as he could without moving.

He ate the triangle in one bite, almost without chewing, He sucked

"Thank you, Major. It was really kind from you" I said.

Shepard smiled, and drank every drop of scotch left in his glass. He then turned to Rick.

"Martin, serve me another glass please" He ordered him.

"Yes sir, ASAP" He rushed to get his glass and then went directly to the table. He opened the bottle and served Shepard a glass. There was a small pause, which Rick interrupted.

"Here sir" Rick said reaching Shepard the glass.

"Thanks Martin" he took a sip and nodded.

"Hmm, oh yeah, remember I got promoted. I am not a Major anymore" he said

He had been a Major for a while, and it was good that he got promoted. That didn't happen that much after reaching Captain.

"Congratz sir" Sky said "So now we must address you as LC Shepard?" He resumed. He was keen on military Ranks. He knew the whole rank tree by heart.

"Well MacMillan, I kind of "_skipped_" Lieutenant Colonel. I am a Lieutenant General now.

That comment shocked Sky

"Sir, with all due respect, how did that happen?" Sky said, totally surprised

"Well to be honest MacMillan, that shocked me as well" He explained. "It has been the combination of good Intel, gathered by you, and a bunch of forced and voluntary retirements… so well, that rushed my way up the pyramid". He then took a longer sip, emptying the glass again.

"So we will be soon addressing you as General Shepard" Sky replied. We were happy for Shepard at the time.

"Hopefully son, but I have a couple more years to make that happen"

He was right, he wasn't that old for a General. There was another pause. Rick and I went to Shepard to shake his hand. After that, he went to the table where the boxes were and left the glass there.

"Actually, I wasn't the only one _who skipped some steps up that pyramid" _he said, grabbing the boxes.

"So here, Martin this one is for you" he said, and then threw him the box.

"Thank you sir" he replied. The box re

"And well, MacMillan… I will just try to guess" he said, while he gave Sky and me one of the two boxes left.

As it was to expect, I got Skyler's box and vice versa. We trying swapping boxes without making a scene.

"Damn it, I got it wrong" Shepard said, and then laughed and grabbed the glass again

I opened my box and saw a new patch for my uniform, and a bunch of papers. I read a the first letter. I was now a Sergeant. Rick and Sky showed his patches as well. We all were.

"Congratulations gentlemen. Or should I say, Sergeants?" He said, pretending to toast with his empty glass.

"Sir, this is too much". I said. It was a raise from E1 (E2 in Rick´s case) pay level to a E5, in only our first real assignment.

"Never expect that much from the army ever again" He said. Then continued - "If you check the boxes there´s a promotion present from the army, plus another bonus for the good job"

The promotion present was a ten thousand dollar check, and the bonus was a plane ticket to leave to America in the next troop exchange, which was in a month. Rick started reading some of the papers.

"Sir, what is this 210-day exception for reporting to duty"

"That means you won´t be called back to this dirt hole or wherever the army needs you for the length of 7-lovely-months, starting today. Enough time to spend all the money you have made doing your job" He said.

"Awesome!" Rick said. He was really happy.

Sky was the most excited about it. He would get to see Taylor and be at her College Graduation. She wasn't even expecting that, so he thought about keeping it a secret and surprise her once he was back in the States.

I went back to checking the box. There was also a medal for distinguished duty which was mistakenly labeled "S. MacMillan". I looked at Sky, and he was already holding the medal in his hand. Then we swapped the medals.

Besides that there was a folded American flag, some gift certificates and a silver colored medal, which looked like one of those medals people get from the Olympics. Sky had a golden medal, and Rick held a bronze colored one.

"Sir?..." I said to Shepard, while I shook my head.

"Leeroy Jenkins… a classic" He laughed. "That's my treat. Medals for the Olympic category of having the most guts. It is our little inside joke about the Three Musketeers. The whole army is talking about it by now"

We all laughed. That was it for me, the box had a lot of papers I didn't want to read at the time, there was enough time to do it in the next month

"Hey guys look, be jealous, I got something you didn't get" Sky said, while he showed us his first (and only) Purple heart.

"Don't worry Sky, I´m fine without one" Rick said. I had to agree, being eligible for it meant being wounded in action.

"I´m actually with Rick in that one, bro". I said. He had luck to receive an almost point-blank shot, and just get away with minor surgery and some stitches.

We laughed a bit about the Purple Heart passing into place with the color of his eye, which was a print of Rick's right fist. I then turned to Shepard, who was already drinking another glass of scotch.

"Sir, if I may know. Who is this Al-Asad man? I mean was that Intel that important that we got promoted, vouched and allowed to go back home?" I asked. I knew that it was a bit off the limits to ask such a thing. He was now the 2nd highest rank in the army. Although he shared his expensive whiskey with us, business was business, and his business was trying to keep that Intel in the right hands.

"MacMillan, if I were you I'd delete all that information you have in that hard drive hiding under the pillow… and enjoy my vacation" He said, now acting really serious. That was a polite way to say _"Shut the fuck up, and roll"_.

"I'll sure do, sir…" I said, now acting serious as well.

"Wow…" Sky said. "I´m feeling dizzy guys… and wet". His face went pale. Rick laughed.

"Did you piss on yourself?" Rick still laughed. I did too. Stuff like that happened rather regularly to people connected to an IV

Skyler reached for his stomach. His hospital robe turned red. The wound had opened and he had hard times breathing. Here were the complications I didn't want to face.

"We... we need a medic!" Rick yelled, as he run out to the corridor and down the hall, repeating himself many times and getting louder and louder. Shepard picked up his cellphone from the table and dialed a number. He left the room quickly

"You'll be fine Sergeant. You will hear from me soon". I looked for something to make pressure on the wound. I made a mess only finding pills, tubes and alcohol bottles. Finally found a roll of bandages in a cabinet. I rushed to my bleeding brother.

"You hang in there. You'll be fine" I said, now pressing the wound with as much bandage I had. It wasn't effective at all. After a few seconds I could feel his blood between my fingers. Yet, I still made pressure into the wound. I didn't know what else to do.

Blood started to come out of his mouth, I cleaned the blood from his face but the bleeding wouldnt stop. He started shaking and his eyes started to roll up.

After a minute Rick came back, bringing a nurse and a doctor.

"What's the matter?" the doctor said, turning to me. My shit scared face met his Poker Face. The doctor was as calm as anybody would be after a 10 hour sleep. Yet there was my brother, bleeding to death.

"We don't know, his wound has suddenly reopened" Rick explained.

"Ok, ok. Let's see". Then the doctor moved me away and took a look at the wound.

"Oh lads, that doesn't look good. Let´s move this soldier. Nurse, call Dr. Riley and make her meet me as soon as possible."

"Yes Dr. Trevor" she responded, reaching for her cellphone on her pocket and dialing a number.

"Dr. Riley, this is Miss Ramzee, Dr. Ri..." I heard her say, as she left with the Doctor, now taking my brother to another room.

You could see the dispair in my face. We were so close to being dispatched home but now this, my brother having to fight for his life, again.

As we walked to the reception, Rick hugged me with one arm and tried to calm me.

"Don't worry dude, he'll be fine! He is already been through hell and now he is here in the hospital, under good hands".

"Yeah Rick, you are probably right… let's go" I said, but I was still worried. I tried faking a calm face... I really tried but completely failed.

I couldn't just stop thinking about Sky having sequels from this. We walked back our way slowly without talking much. We arrived at the reception and saw the receptionist getting ready to leave. It was probably the end of her shift, but another nurse hadn't come yet. There wasn't much to do, so we sat down in one of the seats there, and waited.

* * *

**Hopefully you liked this chapter :D. Please if you find mistakes or anything just send me a message or flame in ur review ;).**

**Thanks**

**LordSP**


End file.
